Poor environment bane of Nigeria’s technology sector

The slow pace of development that has plagued technology transformation in the country has been attributed to lack of enabling environment and poor infrastructure.

According the Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Boto Technology, a Nigerian security solutions firm, Tolu Agbeyo, these challenges have hindered the growth and advancement in the nation’s technology sector especially her locally developed products.

Agbeyo, spoke recently in Lagos, after being recognised for his outstanding contributions and achievements in the business technology and entrepreneurship sector, as the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) 100.MIPAD 100 is a global list in support of United Nations International Decade, to recognise the positive contributions made by people of African descent under the age of 40 in public and private sectors worldwide.He noted that it was time Nigeria provided the needed infrastructure that would encourage young innovative minds to build technologies that bespoke to the African continent rather than receive whatever was thrown at her from other parts of the world.

“We are not behind time in terms of technology, we have able and willing young innovative minds, the brains and resources, but we don’t have an enabling environment to support our local contents.“Culturally we have been made to believe that whatever is locally produced is fake or sub standard, we need to make the environment friendly to local consumption just like its done outside the country, and as well have a change of attitude towards same,” he advised.

The solutions expert asserted that good and qualitative education from the roots has to change this ideology, as the country needs to start trusting her own. “Government should create the environment for opportunities to thrive especially in education so that children will see reasons to learn as well as an environment that supports reward for learning “It has to be a culture, inculcated from childhood, by that we will stop discriminating between foreign and locally made products and services, but appreciate and encourage these innovations by patronizing them,” he said. Agbeyo explained that the company’s advanced anti-counterfeiting technology, Botoseal, one of the points of his selection for the award.